AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Jared has a thing about trying to embarrass me in front of strangers, in front of his friends, wherever he can make himself feel good and make me look bad.” Just when I thought she was about to laugh it off, she sucked in a sharp breath and quickly turned away.
My hand shot out, grabbing her elbow and halting the desperate escape she was trying to make. “You’re so much fucking stronger than that,” I murmured, trying to keep my voice low and not draw attention from the nosey moms who seemed to be shuffling closer, eager for some drama to share at their next coffee club or play date. “Why do you let him beat you down?”
She paused, frozen, her attention focused on the playground where Kadey was giggling loudly as Grace reached up, trying to tickle her feet, and it was like things changed in an instant. That baby girl gave this woman strength like I’d never seen before. Missy suddenly spun back, her rich inky hair fluttering around her face, some strands stuck to the new tears that decorated her cheeks. “I can hold my own, you know.”
“I know.”
“I’ve been doing it since my parents kicked me out halfway through my senior year because I got knocked up. I’ve been doing it for years in that shit-box strip club.” She rambled on, and the more she spoke, the closer I pulled her to me. She’d lit the fire that burned deep in my belly, and it was now determined to scorch every fucking thing around us that could hurt her. “Shaking my ass for dollars, getting groped and grabbed, doing whatever the hell I had to so Kadey could have some kind of normal life. I did it all so I wouldn’t have to tell her we couldn’t eat tonight or that we couldn’t watch her favorite cartoons because the power had been turned off.”
“Baby, I fucking hear you,” I rasped, enjoying the way her lips fell open. Like she wanted to tell me she hated when I called her that, but she knew it would be a damn lie. “You’re doing it. You’re raising that kid on your own, and it’s about time you stop letting that asshole use her to hurt you because he knows that her happiness is your weakness.”
Our bodies were pressed against each other now, neither pulling away in a hurry. Her eyes drifted down to where I was holding her, and I saw the second she noticed the scar that wound around my arm. I forgot it was there sometimes. The barbed wire I’d had tattooed over the top of it often made people think it was some kind of illusion. But when you looked at it closely, you could see the way the skin stretched and was deformed, where they’d had to remove a strip of flesh that it was too late to save.
I expected her to pull back.
I was waiting for the disgusted cringe.
But instead, she looked back up at me and rolled her eyes. “I hate being called baby.”
I couldn’t help but smirk at the lackluster protest.
“Can’t fucking help it,” I answered, lowering my head, so my lips brushed her ear. “Ever since you walked up to the clubhouse the other weekend, I can’t help but wonder what would happen if someone tried to back you into a corner.”
Her head shook just slightly, though she didn’t pull away. “I didn’t take you as aDirty Dancingfan.”
“Swayze is a king.”
“Mama! Come see me slide.” Kadey’s voice echoed over the playground of children. The kid was definitely not shy when it came to crowds. “Mama!”
Missy took a step back, one foot after another, until she slipped from my hold. “So full of surprises. I’m gonna need to keep my eyes on you,” she teased, the tearful look was now gone, and in its place was this playful smile I knew I’d do almost fucking anything to see it light up her eyes again. “See you on Saturday, Swayze.”
I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Not as she gathered my sister in her arms and said thank you or as she caught Kadey at the bottom of the slide and threw her into the air, the both of them throwing their heads back in laughter.
“I like her. She’d be good for you,” Grace announced, leaning into me to take some pressure off her pregnant body. “You should stay.”
I shook my head. “I promised you today,” I responded, hooking my arm over her shoulder. “I can see them whenever. You, my darling sister, are much harder to pin down.”
MISSY
“Thanks, Leigh,” I called over the music. The beautiful blonde club girl tending the bar grinned and waved a bottle of tequila in response before tipping it upside down and filling ten shot glasses.
I wiggled the tray of drinks to the edge of the bar and found the balance with my hand before hefting it up to my shoulder. The drinks barely rattled, even as I dipped and dived around the clubhouse full of club members, construction workers, and from what I understood, staff of the new sports bar.
It opened in a little over a week, and tonight they were celebrating.
And celebrating hard.
“The boys here are hot,” Gem shouted as we passed by each other, not even giving me a chance to reply, so I just laughed. She wasn’t wrong. At least eighty percent of the men wearing club colors were sexy as hell. The muscles, the tattoos, the attitudes—the bad boys that every woman craved, including me.
I’d thought Jared was one of them at some point.
My seventeen-year-old self had seen the fast car, smoking, and overbearing confidence as something I needed to fill my rebellious craving.
Oh, how fucking naive I was to think there was any comparison between Jared’s jobless, drug-addicted ass and these men who didn’t need to yell and scream at women to make themselves feel like a man.
My first stop was the corner booth, where Hawk sat beside an older man with a president patch over his heart and a couple of other guys who looked important. I eased up to their table, bending at my knees to slide the tray onto the table before standing back up and placing my hands on the wooden surface.
Hawk was the first one to look up, a smirk forming as he folded his arms across his chest and leaned back into the booth seats. “Hey, baby.”
